PUDR expresses strong reservations and condemns the coordinated raids in last week of February on bookstores by the Jammu and Kashmir police in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir. As per reports in the press about 668 books have been seized. Majority of books seized are those published by Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, based in New Delhi and affiliated to one of the largest Islamic and political organisations in the Indian subcontinent, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Most of the books seized were authored by Abul Ala Maududi, a prominent 20th-century Islamic scholar and founder of Jamaat-e-Islami. The police justified the action, initiated under Section 126 of the BNSS, as one based on credible intelligence of the sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organization.
PUDR however terms such action as illegal as the cited provisions of the BNSS, largely pertains to preventive action that an Executive Magistrate may take against a person to prevent breach of peace. Seizure of literature does not automatically fall within the mandated provisions of the legal section cited by the police or any other law. The courts have held that mere possession of literature – even if of a banned organization or through which violent acts may be propagated – would not be enough for the court to find that a person has the requisite mens rea for commission of a crime including of terrorist activities under the UAPA. Most importantly, the suggestion that the literature is connected to or promoting the ideology of a “banned organization” is a falsehood. Under the UAPA, Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir has been banned in 2019 as an Unlawful Association (the ban was further extended by the Central government and confirmed by a Tribunal in 2024). But, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind or any other faction has not been banned. Neither is there any reference to such literature in the legal proceedings of the Tribunal or in the very stand of the Central Government. Furthermore, not only is this literature available widely in Jammu and Kashmir it has been published in New Delhi and is said to be available online and in book shops.
The banning and censorship of ideas and literature is unconstitutional, against established international human rights law and is antithetical to peoples right to form their own political opinions and ideologies and engage with wider society and the State.
The recent seizure of literature in Jammu and Kashmir must be seen in the wider context of a militarized state and the slow but steady movement of the lines of restrictions on the local population and politics. As of date, ten political and socio-religious 0rganization (including the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir) have been banned and declared unlawful. There have been widespread arrests and detentions in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly since 2019. PUDR has drawn attention to the ongoing work of the National Investigation Agency and other agencies, including that Jammu and Kashmir has seen the highest number of UAPA cases in recent years (947 cases in the period of 2020-2022). Jammu and Kashmir has also seen record levels of internet shutdowns, curbs on media freedoms, and a steady clampdown on freedom of speech and expression. Of further concern has been the arrest and prosecution of members of human rights groups who have documented human rights violations, for example, most notably Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. The seizure of literature is an example of a further deepening of State control on lives of people in Jammu and Kashmir.
Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh
(Secretaries)
